Last year, WL Gore introduced their reversible technology. This type of garment is great for organizations with multiple camouflage patterns like the Marine Corps. With the release of the woodland version of the USMC Combat Jacket, WL Gore displayed a prototype that reverses to Desert MARPAT during the recent Modern Day Marine expo.
The Marines now have two separate Combat Jackets (Desert and Woodland MARPAT). The new optional wear CWJ will be available through clothing sales stores this Fall. But, if a Marine wants to deploy with both models it means additional weight and space in his sea bag, not to mention up front cost. The folks at Gore realized this and worked to adapt their reversible technology to the specialized fabrics used in this performance garment.
In addition to the Combat Desert/Woodland Jacket seen here, WL Gore has also produced versions of APECS. These types of reversible outerwear are great not just for the Marine Corps but also the Navy who uses different patterns for arid and woodland environments.
Tags: Modern Day Marine, WL Gore
Is this a single ply? I cannot wrap my head around how the Goretex fabric is supposed to work when there is no inside/outside.
GORE-TEX(R) does indeed have an inside and an outside. The inside (closest to the body) has polyurethane (GP) layer to protect the membrane from contamination.
I guess it’ll be a Windstopper(r) membrane which doesn’t have the GP layer so it is in effect bi-directional. It’ll be a 3L laminate with the respective prints bonded to either side of the membrane.
Not really new technology as the British army had woodland/desert versions of this as far back as 2006.
Have we?
It was a commercial/private purchase Gore jacket in DPM to Desert DPM windstopper sold by Survival Aids and Silvermans etc……i don’t think it was ever issue, unless the boys at Hereford had some to play with?
That was probably the older-style reversible jackets. I had a reversible ECWCS parka that I was issued in 1990 when I got to 3rd Group that was tan on one side and night desert pattern on the other. These were made with a second layer of fabric on the inside.
This new technology is a single 3layer Gore fabric.
The membrane doesn’t. It’s the materials that it’s laminated to that make it a fabric with an inside and outside. In this case, the fabric has two outsides.
Any idea if it will be available to general public in a more generic pattern?
My guess would be as soon as the new Army pattern variants are officially announced and made available…
Here we go again. Where Eagles Dare smock. Snowdrift/Badlands or Snowdrift/Greenzone or Badlands/Greenzone. I can think of a couple Kryptek combos too, Typhon/Mandrake as an example. Let’s see what comes of it.